MASTERMINDS (1997)

MASTERMINDS (1997)

Tagline: The criminal mastermind of the century just met his match...

(Action, Comedy, Thriller) [PG-13]

You know, I'm not a violent man but I really do think I'm going to have to kill someone here.

In this one, a criminal mastermind and a gang of henchmen take over a school for the ultra-rich and taken the kids for ransom. Everything is going according to plan until they realize a teenager named Oz was at the school playing a prank after getting expelled. Oz is not going to just let them get away with it. Can the man who designed the school's security system outwit a part-time hacker who is trying to save his sister who attends the school?

I guess this movie was billed as a DIE HARD for kids, but there are some serious moments in here and some deaths and profanity in spite of some of the reviews out there indicating otherwise. This movie is also listed as a comedy, but it’s only a comedy in the same sense that DIE HARD is. There are a few funny lines but for the most part, this is an action flick with a pretty interesting plotline. 

What I liked most about this movie was the acting and the fact that we get Patrick Stewart who plays the villain Bentley. The movie is actually shot at the same building where he would later teach at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-MEN series. He is very good in this as is the rest of the cast. My favorite performance though is from Brenda Fricker (probably best known for SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER) she is freakin epic in this thing. The movie's main star is Vincent Kartheiser who is best known for the ”Mad Men” TV series. We also get a fairly brief Bradley Whitford sighting. Whitford is probably best known for GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. 

I also liked the fact that this film isn’t loaded with tons of nudity or any of that. It’s pretty tame in that regard but still does have some serious elements as I mentioned before. It’s not that I can’t handle that stuff, it’s just that this movie was clearly going for an “a teen is going to save the day” and there are lots of small children involved type of feel. I am not a big 90’s music guy, but the opening and the opening song by Stabbing Westward was pretty cool. 

I wish I could find a complaint about this movie, but I don’t really have one. I guess if you just can’t stand  Vincent Kartheiser, then you are going to have an issue. Perhaps even if you are watching movies and for some reason expecting them to match real-life situations and get every detail precise, then you might not like this effort. You won’t be alone in not liking it though, so maybe that’s good? This movie did poorly at the box office and still to this date doesn’t even have a BLU-RAY or DVD release, so you are going to have to either wait for that to happen or watch it on a streaming service if you want to check it out.  

For me, this is a solid 5 out of 7 and an imperfect yet really fun movie worth streaming on your favorite service. I do wish they had done a better job with the posters. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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